As Seth Emmons from Leica explains, the company has been hard at work not only developing cine lenses, but also other tools to add to your creative arsenal. The evidence of this are the Leica Cine Macrolux macro diopters. Read on for the full details.
Leica Cine Macrolux Macro Diopters
The new Leica Cine Macrolux macro diopters expand on the original 1X with additional powers of 2X and 0.5X, providing options of either more or less augmentation. With a 95mm front filter thread diameter, they fit all lenses in the Leica cine range, but also other lenses with this standard gauge, such as the ZEISS Ultraprimes or Master Anamorphics, without the need for any additional adapters.
But why would you want to throw one of these on your cine lens? The obvious answer is to achieve those extreme close ups often seen in tabletop-style shoots for product commercials.
The stackable nature of the Leica Cine Macrolux macro diopters also means that you can achieve that macro look on any focal length you want, rather than being limited to a single specific macro lens.
Organic focus fall off with Macrolux.
Another advantage is their use on wide-angle lenses to throw the background out of focus even when at narrower apertures — a use until now somewhat limited by the evident chromatic aberration that other diopters cause on wide-angle lenses.
Pricing and Availability
Each of the Leica Cine Macrolux macro diopters will set you back $1,900, making them the some of the most affordable cine optics to sport the Leica name-tag. This is due partly to the reduced amount of glass they’ve used, which is nevertheless of the highest quality and features the same coating used on their cine lenses. Leica goes as far as to claim that there will be no evident Chromatic Aberration, even when stacking more diopters than you would probably need in real-life use.
The Leica Cine Macrolux macro diopters are available now. For more information see cw-sonderoptic.com
Will you be expanding your creative palette with these Leica Cine Macrolux macro diopters? Let us know in the comments below!

We get hands on with the Panasonic FZ2000, a compact bridge camera with great video functions. It’s the first of its kind with a 1 inch sensor, built in ND filters and 4K DCI recording on a super zoom lens. We talked to Mark Baber from Panasonic, who explained a little more about the camera. Also, make sure to check out the footage we recorded directly on the Panasonic FZ2000.
The Panasonic FZ2000 was one of the many announcements by the Japanese manufacturer at Photokina 2016. It has a 20MP 1 inch CMOS sensor with a zoom range of 28-480mm at f/2.8 – 4.5. It shoots 4K video internally in both DCI and UHD resolutions, which is a feature many filmmakers will be pleased about. Although it has a fixed lens, the FZ2000 has built-in ND filters (a feature usually exclusive to video and cinema cameras) which means a shallow depth of field at wide apertures can be used even in bright sunlight.
It can also output 4K 24p in 10bit 4:2:2 via HDMI to external recorders like the Atomos Shogun Inferno, giving greater colour depth. The inclusion of 10bit in both this camera and the GH5 is pushing the boundaries of mirrorless and DSLR technology, meaning other camera manufacturers will now need to keep up. Both CINELIKE D and CINELIKE V picture profiles are included in camera, with the V-Log L picture profile to be available as a paid upgrade, ideal for grading in post production.
At wider angles, the 5-way optical and digital stabilization works very well to compensate shake and movement. This of course struggles to keep up at the telephoto end.
For many video shooters using a DSLR or mirrorless camera, this combination of features in a small camera body is a very good reason for not buying a video or cinema camera. The fixed lens can be seen as a downside, but the zoom range and wide aperture (even at f/4.5) gives a shallow depth of fiend on the larger 1 inch sensor.
Here are the detailed specs of the Panasonic FZ2000:
1 inch 20MP sensor
4K DCI at 24p @ 100mbps
4K UHD (3840 x 2160) at 23.98/24/25/29.97p @ 100mbps.
HD recording in 23.98/24/25/29.97/50/59.94p @ 200mbps (All-I), 100mbps (IPB).
1.7x crop in 4K
10bit 4:2:2 4K via HDMI output.
8bit 4:2:0 4K internal recording to SD card.
High bitrates of 200mpbs in MP4 and MOV formats.
Flat profiles (CINELIKE D/CINELIKE V) included.
V-Log L profile to be available as a paid upgrade.
ND filter stops – 1/4, 1/16, 1/64 and auto.
5-way optical and digital stabilization
Fixed 24-480mm f/2.8 – 4.5 lens
Internal focus and zoom lens elements.
ISO sensitivity of 125 to 12800, expandable to 25600.
Mini-jack microphone input.
EVF and touchscreen display like the GH4.
The Panasonic FZ2000 is available to pre-order from B&H now. What do you think of this camera? Could it be the next addition to your kit bag?

There was a time when we laughed at the thought of DSLR cameras shooting professional video and challenging 35mm film. That time has passed. But today it seems we’re getting closer to the next shock, when mobile phones come into play.
Here is a side by side video between the new OnePlus One phone and the Canon 5D mark III. Notice how well the phone reproduces the scene and how clean the image is, very much on-par with the 5D mark III, or even better.
Furthermore the image of the OnePlus One video is a lot sharper than the 5D mark III, that is due to the fact that it records in 4K resolution and can on top of that shoot 120fps in 720p. With the right accessories maybe this phone could even become a GoPro replacement.
Certainly one must point out that the phone’s sensor is a lot smaller than the one on the 5D mark III which both affects lowlight capabilities as well as limiting the depth-of-field to be very large, meaning there will not be any natural soft background which cinematographers love to use.
The above video gives only a partial insight to what the phone can achieve as a video camera, limited to wide shots under perfect lighting conditions.
It seems to cost $299 as the 16GB version which seems fairly affordable, both as a phone as well as a 4K pocket video camera.
We can be curious to see where all this is going with the iPhone 6 announcement around the corner that is said to have an even better camera and rumors of lens mounting options.
This is the first phone by startup company OnePlus. “One” is currently only available through an invite system.
www.oneplus.net
The videos were shot by filmmaker Giacomo Mantovani who says:
The reason of this comparison is exclusively to discover how good is the OnePlus One camera in ideal light conditions, compared to a professional DSLR, nothing less nothing more. I wouldn’t use a phone for professional shooting, but for sure this is an incredible device for all filmmakers that want to be able to shoot something great on the go, when they don’t have their professional equipment in the bag.